3 Effective Strategies for Controlling Your Phone Use

A few years back, I stumbled upon a game-changing book called Digital Minimalism’ by Cal Newport. This eye-opening read shed light on the dangers of technology, particularly social media. As a result, I started a journey to find practical ways to curb my addiction to almost all those “non-essential” apps on my phone. The road was bumpy, with some strategies yielding better results than others. While I’m still not where I want to be, I do feel I have better control over my phone use. If you’re struggling with a phone addiction (maybe it’s preventing you from studying for the BOC exam!), here are three things you can try:

Say Goodbye to Unnecessary Apps

My initial strategy involved a clean sweep of my phone. I got rid of anything that didn’t serve as a utility or source of information. Useful apps like my banking and to-do list apps stayed, while YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, etc. were blocked via a time-scheduled app blocker (authenticators and work prevent me from removing them entirely). Two things worked in my favor:

a. Removing the apps meant they didn’t constantly tempt me every time I unlocked my phone.

b. Needing to go through the steps to gain access to the app by going through the app blocker (I use Opal).